Anicolor Question

[UK Printer]

We are looking to swap out a B3 format 5 colour press (not a heidelberg) with a Heidelberg Aniclor press, 4 colour with aqueous coater.

I know about the anicolor, and usual concerns that are aired about making sure pre-press is bang on, and i'm fine with that.

But another local printer said to be careful as the anicolor format 'chokes' on longer run lengths upwards of 10K.

Anyone heard of this, I haven't, i'm thinking that he may be saying this as the colour density is temperature controlled, and perhaps the press gets too hot on long runs, making the constancy flighty, or it could just be one of those new tech myths.

Would appreciate any advice.

All the best

Tim

 

[mazengh]

not sure about the long run issues, but make sure you get 5 color plus coater, so that you can run a pantone with the CMYK, usually CMYK + silver or gold, and you will be able to do drip off, strike through, effects by running a special varnish on the 5th unit and gloss coating on the coater.

 

[Deleted member 16349]

But another local printer said to be careful as the anicolor format 'chokes' on longer run lengths upwards of 10K.

Anyone heard of this, I haven't, i'm thinking that he may be saying this as the colour density is temperature controlled, and perhaps the press gets too hot on long runs, making the constancy flighty, or it could just be one of those new tech myths.

I have heard of this recently but I don't have any hard proof that it is true.

I have had a theory quite some time for why it might be true. It is one of the things I did not like about this design.

The Anicolor press is still a lithographic process where water is used. Looking at their single form roller train, there is no way to prevent water from getting back to the ink fountain. There are some rollers on the return path that contact the anilox roller and I am guessing they were put there to try to stop as much water as possible from going to the ink fountain. But eventually the emulsified ink is going to get returned to the fountain and mixed with the fresh ink and dilute it. The diluted ink could then fill the cells of the anilox roller and feed slightly less ink to the press. Or the returning emulsified ink might just prevent fresh ink from getting to the cells properly.

Analysis like this can tell one that there might be a problem but no necessarily how big a problem it might be. For most situations it might be minor. I don't know.

On the issue about a 5th unit for spot colours, I would be concerned at the relationship of the anilox roller cell size to the required colour strength of the spot colours. It may require different anilox rollers to be used for some different spot inks due to ink strength.

I don't think taking out the anilox roller is such a big deal but one needs to be very careful not to damage it. I heard for one printer that runs the Anicolor and likes it, that one of the down sides was that they had to take the anilox roller out every few weeks to get the cells cleaned.

 

[jotterpinky]

We own an Anicolor 52 and have been very pleased with the results. While most run lengths are under 10K we have done quite a few runs upwards of 200,000 and have had zero problems with the issue you are describing. The chiller that regulates the temperature of the rollers works very well (as it must for the entire process to work). The only drawbacks we've have over the conventional press we used to own is the amount of cleaning that is required. They do make some sort of automated solvent cleaner for the ink chambers though that is supposed to work well, we just don't have one. As for cleaning the anilox rollers we have yet to require a full-out cell cleaning. Just once a week with a scrub brush keeps it in good shape but again this is dependent on how much work you run through it too. Ours is only a 4 color machine that I believe has 10 micron cells on the anilox - we did purchase it with two additional anilox roller cell sizes for spot colors but have yet to run spot colors on this machine. Erik is right though, the ink strength requires different cell sizes. While we purchase our ink from Heidelberg we have used other vendors and you need to have a frank conversation with the vendor about this aspect of the machine. This being said, we've been very pleased with the speed and consistency of this machine, yes you do have to have the color nailed down prior to plating but we've seen that as a benefit in most respects. Forms printed six months ago look exactly like forms printed this week without color tweaking on press, just bring it up to your standard densities and print.

 

[Deleted member 16349]

This being said, we've been very pleased with the speed and consistency of this machine, yes you do have to have the color nailed down prior to plating but we've seen that as a benefit in most respects. Forms printed six months ago look exactly like forms printed this week without color tweaking on press, just bring it up to your standard densities and print.

I am not a big fan of the press design but I like some of the issues it brings up.

This is a lithographic press but it has very quick set ups and prints consistently. One can design a more conventional looking press that will perform the same or better but will have the versatility to use any inks and be able to make adjustments if required.

There is still great potential in offset lithography and this press in a way shows it. Water is not the enemy in the process.

 

[moha taghian]

Hello
​​l have faced a problem with my anicolor press
​​​​​while printing l see some extra dots all over my job in all 4 colors and when l rise my lpA to 15 present and speed up to above 10000 h the amont of the dots reduce but stil there are some dots which decrease the quality of my job
l was wondering if every one could help me out
Thanks